Theodore Ts'o was recognized for his many and varied contributions to free software, including his work on the kernel Linux. His role as project leader in the development of Kerberos---the first single sign-on authentication system---and his work on the Open Network Computing Remote Procedure (ONC RPC) are representative of his important role in Internet security. He was also cited for his work as maintainer and developer of the key utilities under the project "E2fs", which are used to maintain file systems for GNU/Linux. Ts'o has also played an important role in community efforts, organizing the annual summit for kernel developers and publishing educational materials and tutorials.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Ts'o said of his work, "It's been great fun. I think a lot of people work on free software for many reasons and that's OK, but I have always been proud of the fact that people have been able to use the work that I have done to advance the cause of free software".

Every year, three finalists are nominated for the award by the free software community. This year's other two finalists were Wietse Venema, recognized for his creation of the Postfix mail system and for his contributions to security tools, and Yukihiro Matsumoto, recognized for his work in designing the Ruby programing language.

About the Annual Award for the Advancement of Free Software

The Free Software Foundation sponsors the annual Award for the Advancement of Free Software, to recognize and honor those that have made a great contribution to the progress and development of free software (free as in freedom as defined in the Free Software Definition), through activities that accord with the spirit of software freedom.

Any kind of activity could be eligible---writing software, writing documentation, publishing software, even journalism---but whatever the activity, we want to recognize long-term central contributions to the development of the world of software freedom. "Accord with the spirit" means, for example, that software, manuals or collections of them (online or on CD) must be entirely free. Work done commercially is eligible, but we give this award to individuals, not to companies, organizations, or teams. You can support the award and the work of the Free Software Foundation here.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as
in freedom) software---particularly the GNU operating system and its
GNU/Linux variants---and free documentation for free software. The FSF
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of
freedom in the use of software. Their web site, located at www.fsf.org,
is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to
support their work can be made at http://donate.fsf.org. They are
headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.

Press Contact: For more information about this announcement please
contact Peter Brown at +1-617-542-5942 or pr@fsf.org